At Long Last....!!! by RL Huff

It has been quite some time since I was able to post!!! The craziness of the holidays has finally calmed, and now, I am caught up... a month or two behind, but projects are done and I can move on!!

I took on a project for a dear friend of the family, who's husband passed on this past August. I knew he was American Indian, but I had no idea he was Mohican!!! He always joshed he was Cherokee... haha!! So, I had to do a bit of research about them before I painted him. My initial idea was to have a landscape background with spirit animals that the Mohicans revered. Unfortunately, that left the painting tooo cluttered! So, I changed it around and made a calm background with 2 of the four animal spirits in the background, and I put all the animals in his hatband. :) Mohicans have a symbol they use, and I have yet to discover why they use it, but that is on his band too. The original had a white hat, and I didn't like that one very well, and he rarely wore it. he was more often seen in a baseball cap, or a black cowboy hat, so I went with the black when I changed the background. Since his skin tone has lots of orange and burnt sienna, I knew a deep blue would work out great. I am very happy with this, although it took me an eternity to do. I started it in December, had to do a quick commission in the middle of the month, tried still to get it done after Christmas, and JUST NOW finished it!!! But I am happy with it now, and so is the widow he left behind.

And so, at long last, I am able to post again, and, at long last , this portrait is complete!!!

"Chum": Mohican Cowboy ..... Acrylic on Canvas, in loving memory of Chum.

Child Portrait, painting stages of a watercolor by artist Linda Young

The artistic liberties I took tonight will give my client a smile when she sees the final result of this painting.  She told me her son and grandson really love the Steelers, so I thought long and hard about what the shirt color should be.  What else, but the Steeler Black and Gold with a little logo? (I know, she said I didn't have to put it on but I couldn't help myself!).

I've left the top of his head purposely lighter and mostly untouched for now; the shoulders are also slightly lighter.  The background is next; but will have to be put aside for a day or so due my work schedule.

I haven't been able to put these posts on my own blog because the person who will be receiving this goes to my blog and on my facebook pages is a "friend".  To post them there will ruin my client's Christmas surprise.  The white balance is "off" as you can tell by the grayish looking white of the paper behind him.  I have the painting stretched on a board that won't fit into the scanner; but when it's finished, I'll be able to scan and get a true color jpeg.

Linda Young Watercolors website

Child Portrait, the painting stages of a watercolor by Linda Young

Tonight, I only had about an hour to work on this portrait and THAT was at 10:45 tonight.  In this session, I added some color to the storybook, and put washes of burnt sienna and cobalt on his shirt.  Hints of wrinkles now beginning to become more apparent.  I also made some adjustments to his left hand to lighten the fingernails and soften the top of the hand.

Linda Young Watercolors website

Child Portrait, The painting stages of a watercolor painting by Linda Young

The First Wash was applied to the shirt in the areas I want the wrinkles and creases to be.  I added a very light impression of a logo also.  His blue jeans are beginning to take form now.  Some shading was done to the left side of his face and ear; a touch more color was placed on his lips to bring out the highlight.  Not much more will be done on the face now until I decide on the shirt color and background.  I did work on his hands and much needs to be improved upon on the left hand; however, it's gotten so late and I'm at a point where I need to stop.  Tomorrow is another day.

This is a digital photo taken at midnight with incandescent lighting on the art; the white balance is not correctly set; but I wanted to post this to show the progress.  If I have time in the morning, I'll scan it to show the color more correctly.  (Hey, it's morning now...just look at my posting time!) 

Linda Young Watercolors.com

Child Portrait in watercolor, the start by artist Linda Young

The start of a child's portrait from a small photograph shown above.  This is the first stage and more work will be done on the face and hair later on.  Next comes the request tonight by the client for me to put the Steelers logo on the shirt.  Talk about a challenge!  It's time to take a break from this for awhile.  I've got a headache just thinking about that logo!

Linda Young Watercolors website